Mud drum



PY 22, 1941- J. G. WHITLATCH ETAL 2,239,133

MUD DRUM Fiied May e, 1940 Patented pr. 22, 1941 ortica MUD BRUNI Application May 6, 1940, Serial No. 333,642

(Cl. 12B-+393) 7 Claims.

Our present invention relates to a mud drum of improved construction and operating characteristics when compared with the mud drum disclosed in our prior Patent No. 1,463,277, issued July 31, 1923.

One object of the present invention is to provide a mud drum which may be located below a boiler of a locomotive or the like and has sediment conduits connected with points adjacent the bottom of the boiler through which sediment may gravitate to the mud drum, a blow-01T valve being connected with the drum and upon being opened eiecting expulsion of sediment such as mud and other deposits from the drum in a minimum of time, pressure for causing such expulsion being secured from the boiler itself through the sediment conduits and the clean-out operation being eiiective to clean all the sediment from the bottom of the boiler by. a siphon action when the blow-ofi valve is o-pened.

More particularly it is 'our object to provide a mud drum of elongated 'cylindrical character which may be conveniently located below a boiler and connected therewith by sediment conduits so that sediment will gravitate from the boiler into the mud drum, the sediment conduits terminating within the mud drum in certain arrangements of an elbow and a return bent elbow which effect a thorough cleaning of all sediment from the mud drum when the blow-oli' valve is opened.

Still a further object is: to provide a mud drum which may be connected at opposite ends by means of sediment conduits with the opposite sides of a boiler, thereby making necessary a minimum amount of sediment conduit and the internal construction of the mud drum being such that an outletvat one end will receive all the Asediment from the drum even though the sediment enters from opposite ends of the drum.

With these and other objects in view our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of our device, whereby the sobjects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a locomotiver boiler with our improved mud drum .mounted on the frame of the locomotive therebeneath.

Figure 2 is a-iront elevation of the mud drum and the lower portion of a water leg of the boiler.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view longitudinally through the mud drum; and

Figure 4 is a sectional View on the line fl4 of Figure 3.

On the accompanying drawing we have used the reference numeral Ill to indicate a drum member. The drum member IB has end heads I2 and I3. These are preferably riveted in position, although of course they may be welded if found desirable.

The end headsV I2 land I3 are provided with threaded bosses IZa, |2b, I3@ and |3b. The boss |,2a receives an inspection plug I4. The boss I2b at its outer end receives a pipe 32, which pipe constitutes a sediment conduit.

The pipe 32 extends away from the end head I2 of the mud drum to connections It made in a Water leg 33 of a boiler 29. The sediment conduit 32, it will be noted, is arranged at 'a slant so that mud will gravitate from the water leg 30 into the drum I3. Internally the threaded boss |2b receives an elbow 33 which as shown in Figure 3 is directed downwardly toward the bottom of the drum member I0. f

The boss |319` of the end head I3 receives a sediment conduit I5 which likewise extends at a slant up to connections I6 with the opposite side of the water leg 3|) as shown in Figure 2. Internally the boss |3b has a return bent elbow Il, the discharge end of which is indicated at I8. The end I8, it will be noted, is directed toward the boss I3a. y

Connected with the boss |3a is an outlet nipple IS terminating in a blow-ofie valve 20. A discharge pipe 2| extends from the blow-off valve to any suitable point where it is desirable to discharge the sediment expelled from the mud Idrum. The blow-off valve 20 has an operating lever 22 from which extends a link rod 23 for operating the blow-off valve as desired.

The mud drum I0 may be located in any suitable position as on the frame member 25 of a locomotive or the like. Angle bars 24 extend across the frame members (usually there is a frame member for each side of the locomotive) and U-bolts 26 retain the mud drum against supporting saddle blocks 24a.

Practical operation In the operation of our mud drum, the mud will gravitate through the conduits I5 and 32 to the drum. In some cases the boiler 29 also has a clean-out boss as indicated at 34 in Figure 1. In that case an elbow 35 may be screwed into the boss, a conduit 36 being utilized to connect the boss with a T fitting 3l inserted in the conduit 32.

The mud drum may be cleaned out by merely opening the blow-01T valve 20 for a few seconds while steam is up in the boiler. Pressure in the boiler forces water down through the conduits I5 and 32 and into the mud drum. The Water ows as indicated by the arrows 21 and 28 and due to the arrangement of the elbow 33 and the return bent elbow I'I-i8, all of the sediment is cleaned out of the mud drum. By this arrangement it is possible to bring the sediment conduits into opposite ends of the mud drum and yet effect movement of all of the sediment through the nipple I9 from such entry of water at both ends of the drum before water begins to be expelled through the blow-oit valve. As soon as water does start to ow, then the valve may be shut off.

During the clean-out operation, any sediment in the conduits I5 and 32 will be blown out through the valve. Also any layer of mud in the bottom of the water leg 33 will be cleaned out by a siphon action caused by the water l sweeping across the bottom of the water leg and carrying theV sediment with it. Repeated operation of a mud drum constructed in accordance with the foregoing description has demonstrated the eiiiciency of operation for removal of all the sediment in a minimum period of time and consequently with a minimum loss of steam pressure. At the same time the device is comparatively simple and inexpensive to construct and installation requires but a minimum of time. It will also be obvious from the foregoing that the clean-out operation is very simple to perform.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of our device without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

We claim as our invention:

l. A mud drum comprising a drum member mounted below a boiler, conduits extending from adjacent bottom portions of said boiler to said drum member through which sediment may gravitate to the drum member, said conduits entering opposite ends of said drum member, a sediment outlet at one of said ends, a valve for controlling said sediment outlet and means to clean sediment from said drum member comprising an interior elbow communicating with the sediment conduit opposite the end of the drum member at which-said sediment outlet is located, the discharge end of said elbow being directed downwardly toward the bottom of said drum member, and a return bent elbow communicating with the sediment conduit entering said end of the drum at which said sediment outlet is located, the discharge end of said return bent elbow being directed toward said sediment outlet.

2. A mud drum of the character described mounted below a boiler, conduits for conducting gravitating sediment to said mud drum, said con-` duits entering opposite ends thereof, a sediment outlet at one of said ends, a valve for controlling said sediment outlet and means to clean sediment from said drum member comprising an interior outlet.

3. A mud drum comprising a drum member, conduits extending from adjacent bottom portions of a boiler to said drum member through which sediment may gravitate to the drum member, a sediment outlet from said drum member, a valve for controlling said sediment outlet and means to clean sediment from said drum member comprising an interior elbow communicating with one of said conduits, the discharge end of said elbow being directed downwardly toward the bottom of said drum member and a return bent elbow communicating with another of said conduits, the discharge end of said return bent elbow being directed toward said sediment outlet.

4. A mud drum comprising a drum member, conduits extending from adjacent bottom portions of a boiler to said drum member through which sediment may gravitate to the drum member, a sediment outlet from said drum member, a valve for controlling said sediment outlet and means to clean sediment from said drum member comprising a return bent elbow communicating with another one of said conduits, the discharge end of said return bent elbow being directed toward said sediment outlet.

5. A mud drum comprising an elongated cylindrical member having sediment inlets at opposite ends thereof adjacent the top thereof, sediment conduits from a boiler to said sediment inlets, a valve controlled sediment outlet in one of said ends, one of said sediment conduits extending into said drum member and having a discharge end directed toward said sediment out= let and the other of said sediment conduits extending into said drum member and having a discharge end directed downwardly toward the bottom of said drum member.4

6. A mud drum comprising an elongated cylindrical member having sediment inlets at opposite ends thereof adjacent the top thereof, sediment conduits from a boiler to said sediment inlets, a valve controlled sediment outlet in one of said ends, the sediment conduit at said end extending into said drum member and having a return bent elbow directed toward said sediment outlet.

7. In a mud drum of the character disclosed, an elongated cylindrical member mounted in a horizontal position below a boiler, said cylindrical Vmember having end heads, a sediment outlet opening in one of said heads,.a first sediment inlet opening in said head, a second sediment inlet opening in the other of said heads, an internal return bent elbow communicating with said iirst sediment inlet opening and having a discharge end directed towards said sediment outlet opening and an internal elbow in communication with said second inlet opening and having a discharge end directed downwardly towards the bottom of said cylindrical member.

JACOB G. WHITLATCH.

OSCAR R. WILLIAMSON. 

